But this world is a little upside down....

My world is a little nuts right now… what about yours?

The headlines read… from the National Post
"I don't want our fans to think that we just pick up stakes and move on a whim. We don't. The only time it happens is when a franchise in effect has nobody who wants to own it, and is not functioning from an economic standpoint. As long as you have someone willing to step up and own it, you move forward." - Gary Bettman, in Toronto, Feb. 3, 2009
(And the Hockey Baloney continues – spoiled brat millionaires and powerful little men arguing over a silly hockey team…)

The headlines read….from the Washington Post
On the streets of the capital, billboards proclaim, "King Mahinda Rajapaksa: He saved us," beneath a photograph of the president hugging his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's defense minister, and apparently glorying in the military victory that this week ended more than a quarter-century of war with the Tamil Tiger separatists.

"Everyone's heartbeat is just like my song and the billboards," said Saheli Rochana Gamage, 21, whose rendition of the anthem has made her a celebrity in this small Indian Ocean island nation. "He should be our president forever. We are happy with a king who can protect our country. Elections don't matter."

At a time when insurgencies elsewhere seem to be expanding, notably in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Rajapaksa brothers were able to do what five Sri Lankan presidents, eight governments and more than 10 cease-fires could not: win a war against a movement that the FBI has called "the most ruthless and efficient terror organization in the world."

Despite the elation, however, the human cost of their accomplishment is also becoming clear: Power has been consolidated around a ruling family, a humanitarian crisis looms, and civil rights and media freedoms have been rolled back.

Then the article reflects…
Perhaps the most pressing problem is the situation of more than 280,000 people, mostly Tamils, who have been driven from their homes in recent months, many of them traumatized women and children who were used as human shields or forced to huddle in trenches or the jungle during fighting. They are now living in crowded, highly controlled government-run camps, fenced in by barbed wire. Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads, many here say.

Then the headlines read… from the CBC.ca…
Mulroney's tax deal standard practice in 2000, inquiry hears
The policy that allowed former prime minister Brian Mulroney to pay taxes on only half of the $225,000 he said he received from German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber was a standard practice at the time, a federal inquiry heard Thursday.

(My former Prime Minister didn’t pay enough taxes… didn’t know about it… was always right… and he had a hard time… poor Brian…)

I don’t know about you – but this world is a little upside down – isn’t it?

~ Murray Lincoln ~
www.murraylincoln.com

Source:
Gary Bettman and
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1613179
Sri Lanka
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104335.html
CBC report – Mulroney Tax Deal
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/21/inquiry-taxes.html